Archived News:

Monday, Apr 11, 2011

Steam News announces the availability of an automatic patch for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution, the standalone real-time strategy expansion. The list of major changes follows. Continue here to read the full story.

Direct2Drive offers 20% off all orders with the code "SHOWERS" on checkout. Strategy First is now donating 30% (up from 20%) of online sales between now and April 11th to Japanese earthquake/tsunami relief.

The Bethesda Blog has word that Brink is being released a week sooner than previously planned. Splash Damage's upcoming first-person shooter was last expected on May 17 in North America and May 20 in Europe, and word is: "The game will now release on May 10th in North America and May 13th in Europe," with Bethesda's Pete Hines explaining that this is simply because production on the game wrapped up a week earlier than expected. The game was originally announced with a spring 2010 release window which was later changed to Fall 2010 before the May 2011 release was announced. The Bethesda Blog also notes the Brink Facebook Page has a new ability preview of the game.

Activision officially announcesCall of Duty: Black Ops Escalation, the upcoming DLC for Call of Duty Black Ops that was first revealed via an over-caffeinated posting on the GAME Australia Website. The announcement confirms the DLC is coming first to the Xbox LIVE edition of the military shooter sequel on May 3, since mom always liked it best (okay, there is probably also some money changing hands here too). "In crafting the Escalation multiplayer maps – Zoo, Convoy, Hotel and Stockpile – the team developed them to be distinct experiences in their own right, giving players the variety they crave in both setting and gameplay," said Treyarch Studio Head, Mark Lamia. "And I don't want to spoil any surprises for Zombies fans, but Call of the Dead takes it to a whole new level." There's no word oat this point when to expect the DLC for Windows or PlayStation 3.

The Unreal Development Kit Website now offers the April beta of the UDK, a free toolkit for creating games using Epic's Unreal Engine 3. The new version includes Unreal Editor improvements, new particle system and options, new keyboard shortcuts, and more, and there are also a number of updated pages in the UDK's online documentation. Downloads of the UDK are mirrored on AtomicGamer and Gamer's Hell.

Comments from BioWare’s Casey Hudson in the latest issue of Game Informer provide fuel for speculation that an MMOG based on Mass Effect is possible. Though it was just confirmed that Mass Effect 3 will not include multiplayer, VG247 relates some MMO speculation from the magazine. "A lot of people say that they want to see an MMO, I think that kind of makes sense for this universe," Hudson said. "Part of what you’re trying to do is save the universe so you can live in it. That’s part of the promise, I think, for any great IP. It has to be a world worth saving… I think Mass Effect has that quality to it. If you get rid of the Reapers and win that, wouldn’t it be amazing to just live on the Citadel or just take a ship to Omega? That makes sense."

An interview on Gothicz.net talks with Mike Hoge, one of the cofounders of Piranha Bytes, who offers a surprising indication that they are to get the rights to the Gothic series back, saying: "We get the rights to Gothic back when we have finished Risen 2. Why? Because we did only sell them to our ex-publisher for a certain amount of time ;)." This is followed by a comment in German on World of Players from Michael Rüve of Piranha Bytes, who clarifies by removing clarity, stressing that Mike is not a lawyer, and saying (in English) to "take his comments with a grain of salt." He says there's no reason to comment on their contractual situation with JoWooD at this time, making the obvious point that JoWooD has enough to worry about, as they have been declared insolvent, and are currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Koch Media. He also notes that Piranha Bytes and JoWooD have no legal disagreements. Thanks Gamer's Hell.

There are very blurry images from Capcom on GamingBolt.com from Captivate, Capcom's event to celebrate their games. GamingBolt ran through the "enhance" function at the CSI lab, and speculate that two of the three images show Monster Hunter and Phoenix Wright. As for the third, they express no doubts that this is from Dead Rising, saying it is "definitely, Dead Rising 3." Though the event was last week, apparently news from the soiree is embargoed until tomorrow. Thanks Strategy Informer.

Capcom's Yoshinori Ono tweets responds to a question about PC Super Street Fighter IV that indicates that when the embargo mentioned in the story above expires tomorrow, we may finally learn the status of the PC edition of the fighting sequel. In January Capcom's Christian Svensson expressed hopes that this would still happen, and now here's what Ono-san tweets: "I cant twit about it topic... Plz wait until 12th Apr. 8am PST. ;) RT @IceBreakker:When will we have SSFIV for PC?" In case this doesn't dispel any remaining doubts, Joao points out that the Super Street Fighter IV ESRB Listing includes a PC version.

There's a boatload of Portal 2 concept art on Super Punch, proving you can fit a lot of art in a boat. This was uncovered through the ongoing deciphering of the Valve PotatoFoolsDay ARG, and shows off a number of alternate looks at Chell, Atlas and P-body the co-op robots, and the game's cover art. Thanks Kotaku.

GFK Chart-Track has U.K. PC game sales charts updated through April 9. This week The Sims Medieval retains the number one spot, Football Manager 2011 returns to the number two spot, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 reenters the chart at #11. MCV has the all-platform chart, where Zumba Fitness enters at number one.

This LiveScience Article (thanks Ant via Neatorama) describes promising progress on a vaccine for cat allergies. This gives hope for MrsBlue, as she loves kitties, but has terrible allergies. She may still not be a great candidate for this even if it does work out, as she also has asthma, but we can hold out hope.